Student Enterprise Awards 2016 Donegal County Final

Two Secondary Schools Represent Donegal at National Student Enterprise Awards

Two Donegal schools were named as winners in the recent Student Enterprise County Final. The winning schools were The Royal and Prior Comprehensive School and Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana. Winner of the Senior Category was Kitchen Kouture from the Royal and Prior Comprehensive School, while the winner of the Intermediate Category was Inish WoodWorking of Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana. Both schools will now go on to represent Donegal at this year’s Student Enterprise Awards (SEAs) National Final in Croke Park on Wednesday, 20th April 2016.

The SEA’s are open to second level students around Ireland and this year saw strong interest in Donegal with 15 entries from six schools. The competition is run through the Local Enterprise Offices nationally and schools are supported and guided through every stage of the entry process. The awards introduce enterprise to students at a young age, giving participants an understanding of the skills required to run a modern business, as well as an opportunity to develop skills in the areas of sales, marketing, customer service, teamwork and managing finance.

Each of the 15 entries in Donegal developed a comprehensive business plan and delivered a presentation to a panel of judges, as well as creating a high quality display stand for the county final. The judging panel included Patricia Hill of Stateside Restaurant, Eve-Anne McCarron, Local Enterprise Office and Cllr Seamus O’Domhnaill, Donegal County Council, alongside business owner, Seamus McEwen who judged the standard of display stands.

Commenting on the SEAs, Michael Tunney, Local Enterprise Office Donegal, said: “We’re delighted to facilitate a process whereby students can get involved in enterprise at such a young age. Some of the success stories are remarkable and over the lifetime of the awards, students in Donegal have shown great innovation, ingenuity and clever sales pitches. The SEAs are about introducing enterprise to students in a relevant way; something that can only help to create more entrepreneurs in the future. Congratulations to all of this year’s participants and we wish the two finalists the very best of luck at the National Awards in Dublin.”

In addition to winning the overall category, Kitchen Kouture, Royal and Prior Comprehensive School, Raphoe was presented with Best Stand Display. St. Columba’s Secondary School, Ballybofey was awarded Senior Category Runner-Up for Donegal Bat Boxes.

Local Enterprise Office Donegal is supported through co-funding from the Irish Government and the European Regional Development Fund 2014 – 2020.